What if they were the state's children? What I'm saying here is that often one encounters the opinion that children are their parents' property, that they can

What if they were the state's children? What I'm saying here is that often one encounters the opinion that children are their parents' property, that they can do with them as they well please, and that isn't true either. There are such things as abusive parents, and there are such things as crazy cults. One notices that there was that other German couple, whose name eludes me, who cited religious motives for homeschooling. That is never a good sign. I'm a practicing Catholic, and if a German gives that reason for homeschooling they are using the Lord's name in vain. Public opinion in Germany (and in France) is that society has a duty to provide some oversight, and that that is provided by schools. By the way, public education in Germany is generally decent. All these arguments aside, there is also the child's right to a decent education, and the parents have no right at all to deprive the child of that.